


Some people just have problems

by CaptainnAustralia



Series: Alternate Universe [2]
Category: Young Avengers
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-06
Updated: 2012-02-06
Packaged: 2017-10-30 17:01:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/334020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainnAustralia/pseuds/CaptainnAustralia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Part of the AU of "It ain’t easy bein’ a hero in high school," set after part 8. Part of the lead up to the sequel. Billy gets injured and Teddy plays nurse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Some people just have problems

It was one of the few times that Billy came home with bruises and had really, truly tried to avoid getting them.

Kids at school never touched him - that much was true. Fear of Teddy, and by extension anyone whom Teddy counted as a friend, kept Billy safe. But Teddy’s reach didn’t extend very far beyond the school halls and Billy was relatively unprotected on the streets of New York City, which were strangely homophobic for a place where gay marriage had just been legalized.

It wasn’t like you could look at Billy and  _tell_  he was gay – people couldn’t just wear their sexuality like a t-shirt, not unless they really wanted too. However Billy was a creature of habit. He went to the same stores, the same cafés, caught the same subways and walked the same distances – and now Teddy often accompanied him.

This wasn’t an issue. It really wasn’t. The waitress at his favourite café had actually squealed in delight when Billy had said oh so casually ‘oh, this is Teddy, my boyfriend’. Only one person seemed to really have any issue with his being gay.

John Kessler worked at Billy’s favourite comic book store. His dad owned the place – Kessler often complained about working in a place for ‘dweebs’ but Billy made sure to ignore him. It killed Billy inside that he would love to work in a place like this and Kessler hated every second inside the superb store. Kessler, it appeared, also had a rather large issue with Billy (and Teddy) being a couple. It wasn’t like they’d make out in the middle of the store or anything. But they’d hold hands, or giggle over a comic whose artist had changed and screwed up their characters, or stare and laugh while the other explained something about a comic they loved.

It had been pretty fast really, too fast for Billy to magic his way out of the situation. Kessler had cornered him in the alley behind the store, shoving him against the rough brick as Billy went to make his way home. He’d only managed to get out a few solid hits before Billy, using some of the tricks Teddy had since taught him to get out of bullying situations without using his powers, managed to duck out, pulling Kessler’s strength against him and shoving him against the wall. Billy didn’t take time to gloat or otherwise attack – he just ran to the nearest clear alleyway and wished himself home.

“B?” Billy froze in the bathroom where he’d dropped himself.

Damn.

He’d forgotten that Teddy was coming over this afternoon – but then again Teddy came over most afternoons, so it wasn’t really surprising at all.

He hurriedly twisted the lock and went about trying to clear his face – his nose was bleeding up a storm, soaking his shirt in red. He gave it up as a bad job and tossed it in the hamper, stuffing tissue into his nose and gingerly dabbing at his eye.

“Billy, that you?” Teddy’s voice was closer and a soft knock sounded from the door.

“Just a min T, not decent.” There’s a laugh.

“I’ve seen you naked B, you don’t need to hide in the bathroom.” Billy chooses not to respond to that because heat is flaring in his cheeks and his smile makes his new wounds hurt. He reaches for the disinfectant, trying to think up excuses that wouldn’t sound used and worn.

Muggers could work. Jumped leaving the comic book store. He could always magic the bruises away, he supposed, but last time he did that it only worked like a cover up and they’d come back looking blotchier and more painful than ever.

The disinfectant dropped from his grip and splashed open on the ground. He swore loudly and moved to quickly to pick it up, misjudging his distance from the sink and smacking his forehead sharply on the porcelain.

“B? What was that?”

“Ah… shit… nothing! Just dropped the… something!”

“Billy, I’m coming in.”

“No don’t co-” It was too late, however, and Teddy pushed the door open, snapping effortlessly through the lock.

“Teddy, you can’t just break the door!” Billy shot upwards from where he was bent picking up the bottle, startled slightly by Teddy’s apparent disrespect for his parent’s house, smacking his head once again on the sink.

“Billy?!” Billy groaned and rubbed at the back of his head, the front throbbing with the pain of being both punched and smacked against the skin. He felt Teddy grab him and force him to sit on the toilet – he didn’t bother arguing, currently fighting a sudden and un-nerving wave of nausea.

“B, what the hell?!” Teddy hand pressed carefully around his cheeks, tilting his head upward to check the raising bumps. He tugged lightly at the tissue in Billy’s nose, now soggy and red, tossing it in the sink and quickly wrapping a new, thick layer of paper around his hand before pressing it lightly under the flow.

“What happened?”

“Jumped outside the comic book store. S’okay, I shook ‘em, but it was too fast for me to use my powers. Just used that move you taught me and ran.”

“You used one of the moves? Which one” Teddy could hardly shake the pride from his voice as he lightly took the disinfectant from Billy’s grip and gently went about rubbing it over the little cuts on Billy’s face.

“The one when you hook under their arm and shove. They hit the wall and I didn’t look back.”

“They cornered you?”

“For a second.”

“Muggers?”

“Yeah.”

Teddy gave him a look that clearly indicated that Teddy didn’t believe that. Not in the slightest. But he just sighed and shook his head.

“I think,” he said slowly, pulling the tissue away again, “the bleeding has stopped.”

“Good, I was getting worried…”

Teddy laughed because the curious expression on Billy’s face when he peered down at his own blood was too cute for words. And then he sighed because really this sight was becoming frighteningly and sickeningly familiar.

“You gotta stop getting hurt B. My poor little heart can’t take it.”

Billy just smiled like he always smiled, tilted his head into the hand resting on his cheek and closed his eyes.

“I know T. I know.”

They sat in silence for a long moment.

“It wasn’t muggers was it?”

“Teddy…”

“Come on B, be honest with me.”

“You can’t hurt him, promise me.”

“I ca-”

“Promise me Teddy, that you won’t touch him.”

“It’s Kessler isn’t it.”

“Promise me.” Billy grabbed at his cheek, forcing him into eye contact. Teddy could see the bruise, already welling around Billy’s right eye, while he stared at his boyfriend. He sighed heavily and loudly in defeat, pressing a forehead against Billy’s.

“You’ll be the death of me B.”

“Don’t joke about that.”

“I won’t touch him. I’ll just… glare threateningly and… I dunno, not say thank you when I buy the comics.”

“I love you so much sometimes.”

“I know.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hey, Kessler.”

“Hey Tommy. Ain’t seen you around here for a wh-”

The fist slammed into Kessler’s face before he finished the sentence, sending him flying into the street. Tommy followed closely, glad for the falling darkness and the notorious habit of New York residence to ignore violence once the sun went down.

“You messed with the wrong guys brother, Kessler. And just cuz Billy has his idiotic boyfriend wrapped around his little finger and made Teddy promise not to touch you _doesn’t_  mean I have to abide by the same rules.”

Tommy smiled darkly, lifting Kessler by his shirt and grinning maliciously down at him.

“Now let’s see,” he said, drawing back his arm, “if we can make you a little better looking, eh?” 


End file.
